Drive construction



Jan. 1, 1952 DL A. WALLACE 2,581,224

DRIVE coNsTRUcTrQN Fiied sept. 13, 1945 's sheets-sheet 1 JEUL` 1', 1952 I D. A. WALLACE 2,581,224

DRIVE CONSTRUCTION Filed sept. 13; 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INI/ENTOR.l

J a n, 1, 1952 b. A. WALLACE DRIVE CONSTRUCTIN 3 sheets-sheet s Filed sept. 15. 1945 INVENTOR.

jfl/ZIJ WaZZqce.

Patented Jan. 1, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DRIVE CONSTRUCTION David A. Wallace, Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., assignor to Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Application September 13, 1945, Serial No. 616,100

(Cl. 'Z4- 325) 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a drive construction that may rind an advantageous use in the mechanism for propelling a boat. More specifically it relates to means for providing a simple and easy reverse in the direction of the drive of the drive construction. Also specifically it relates to a drive construction for boats by which an advantageous use of space is accomplished.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved drive construction by which a reversal of the direction of rotation of the driven member may be expeditiously accomplished. Such a drive construction may be employed advantageously in cooperation with a reversing mechanism of the type involving planetary means.

A further object is to provide improvements in a drive construction by which the axis of a driven member may extend either in the same direction as the axis of a driving member or at an angle to the axis of the driving member, with provision for an easy change from one position to the other. This drive construction may be employed with the means described in the previous paragraph whereby the drive with axes in the same direction or the drive with axes at an angle to one another may involve the reversal of the direction of rotation of the driven member as described in the preceding paragraph.

Another object is to provide improvements in a boat construction whereby a compactness and a saving in space are accomplished by the proper relation of the axis of the crankshaft of the engine driving the boat and the propeller shaft.

Still another object relates to the provision of an improved boat construction and more specifically to a, drive construction therefor by which the direction of rotation of the propeller may be reversed with respect to the direction of rotation of the crankshaft of the engine driving the boat. It is desirable from a production standpoint to make boat driving units the same, i. e., engine, reversing transmission, and propeller shaft, and yet the propeller in one boat may be reversed with respect to the propeller in another boat so that for propelling in a forward direction, for eX- ample, the propeller shaft in the one boat must rotate in one direction and the propeller shaft in the other boat must rotate in the other direction. Moreover, a single boat may have tWO @UV- ing units positioned in parallel relation with oppositely rotating propellers. Thus it becomes desirable to associate a reversing mechanism of a semi-permanent nature with any driving unit the propeller of which is to have a direction of rotation opposed to that of the engine. This reversing mechanism will be in addition to the normal reversing transmission by which, for example, the propeller may be rotated in one direction for moving a boat forwardly and in the opposite direction for moving the boat rearwardly at a reduced speed. According to the present invention, each driving unit is so constructed and arranged as to facilitate the installation of the reversing mechanism of the semi-permanent nature.

Other objects will appear from the disclosure.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through a transmission forming part of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar sectional view on an enlarged scale showing a portion of the transmission at the right end of Fig. 1 with parts thereof in trans* posed position;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View of a portion of the transmission shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a part of a modified form of transmission;

Fig. 6 is a similar sectional view of the part of the transmission of Fig. 5 with certain parts in transposed position; and

Fig. 7 is a side View of a boat to which the novel transmission of the present invention has been applied.

Reference character IIJ designates the rear end of an engine crankshaft, the crankshaft and the rest of the engine being positioned in a crank or engine casing of which only a portion II is shown. To the crank case portion Il are secured by means of screws I2 a plate I3 and a transmission housing I 4. The housing I4 has a front chamber I5 containing a reversing planetary unit I6 and a chamber I'I containing reduction gearing. A sun gear I8 forming part of the reversing planetary unit I6 is secured to the crankshaft I0 and meshes with a plurality of planetary gears I9 of which only one is shown,

3 Each planetary gear I9 is journalled on a shaft 20, the ends of which are journalled in a carrier housing 2i. The planetary gears I9 are spaced from one another about the periphery of the sun gear I8 and alternately placed between the gears I9 are planetary gears 22. The gears 22 mesh with the gears I9 and also with a sun gear 23 splined as indicated at 24 to a driving shaft 25. The planetary gears 22, of which only one is shown, are journalled upon shafts 26 in turn journalled by their ends in the carrier housing 2|. Within the carrier housing 2i is positioned a clutch 21 composed of discs of which some are splined, as indicated at 28, to the carrier housing 2I and the others of which are splined, as indicated at 29, to a hub member 3e splined as indicated at 24 to the driving shaft 25. The carrier housing 2I is joumalled by means of a roller bearing 3| on the hub member Se and by means 4of a roller bearing 32 on the sun gear i8. v A holding ring 33 surrounds the carrier housing 2 I. A control mechanism 34 includes a rock sha-,it 35 and a fork 35. Fork 35 is connected to the outer race of thrust bearing 9|. The inner race of bear-ing SI bears against sleeve 92 which is slidably mounted on the driven shaft 25. Sleeve 92 is connected to camming linkage 94 which is pivotally supported by the ear Y95 projecting from the rear wall of housing 2l. Movement of sleeve 92 will cause camming linkage 94 -to actuate the pin means 91, which is slidably mounted in the rear wall of housing 2 I, and thereby cause movement of pins 31 into and out of engagement with the clutch discs of clutch 2'I. In the position of Fig. l the control mechanism 34 is so arranged as to cause engagement of the discs of the clutch 21 with one another and thereby to couple the carrier housing 2| through the hub member 3D to the driving shaft 2 5. Since the carrier housme 2l carries the planetary sears IS and 22, and these gears directly connect the sun gears I8 and 23, the driving shaft 25 is caused -to rotate in the same direction as and at the same speed as the crankshaft Iii. Through appropriate means., Ilot shown, the rock shaft V35 and the fork 36 may receive a clockwise movement that will disengage clutch 2i and through means, not shown, cause the holding ring 33 to engage the exterior of the carrier housing 2l to hold it against movement.

l With the parts arranged as just described, the

driving shaft 25 has a direction of rotation opposite to that of the crankshaft If! and has a speed of rotation less than that of the crankshaft i0. The reversing unit just described is shown more completely in the patent to FrOmm 1,954,200, April l0, 1934.

The housing f4 has an intermediate wall 31 separating the chambers I and il. The wall 31 carries a ball bearing 38 in which is journalled the rear end of the driving shaft 25, the front end of the driving shaft 25 being iournalled by means of a ball bearing 39 in the sun gear I8. The spur gear 42 is splined, as indicated at 4I, to the rear end of the driving shaft 25. A countershft spur gear 42 meshes with the gear 4B and is keyed as indicated at 43, to a c ountershaft 44. To the countershaft 44 are also keyed a spacing collar 45 and a countershaft spur gear 45. The gear .4 8 meshes 4with a spur driven gear 41 having a shank 48 journalled by means of spaced roller thrust bearings 49 and El! in a removable end wall 5l forming part of the housing I4. A connecting collar 52 is splined to the shank 48 of the gear .41, as indicated at 53, and is retained on the shank by means of a nut 54. The connecting collar 5.2 is adapted to be bolted or otherwise attached to a corresponding collar splined or otherwise fixed to a driven shaft, which may be, for example, a propeller shaft for a boat. A hoilow part 55 is threaded on the rear end of the driving shaft 25 to retain the spur driving gear 4U thereon and forms part of a conduit system for oil from the engine crank case to the thrust bearings 49 and 5U, one end of the conduit system being a cross bore 56 in the crankshaft I6 and the other end being a longitudinal bore 51 and a transverse bore 58 in the shank 48 of the gear 4l'. The gears 4Q, 42, 4S, and 41 constitute a reduction drive between the driving shaft 25 and the driven shaft to which the connecting collar 52 is adapted to be attached; that is, the driven shaft has a slower speed of rotation than has the driving shaft. The driven shaft has the same direction of rotation as the driving shaft.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 2, the spacing coilar45 and the counter-shaft spur gear 42 are .mlhhnged so that the gear 42 is adjacent the gear 46 and is out of mesh with the driving spur gear 4I). Now a Wide idler gear 5e meshes with both the driving spur gear 40 and the countershaft spur gear 42. As seen in Fig. i the idler gear 53 is journalled by means of ball bearings 50 and EI on a shaft E2 keyed as indicated at 5 3 to the intermediate wall 3'! of the housing I4. The other end V64 is mounted in the removable wall 5;! of the housing and this end along with the adjacent portion of the shaft is reduced in size as indicated at B5 to Aprovide space for the driven spur vgear 41. It will be readily seen that the idler gear 59, causes the driven gear 4l and the driven shaft 48 to which the gear 41 is attached by the collar 52 to have a direction of rotation opposed to that of the driving shaft 25. Fig. 3 shows how the gears 4i), 42, and 59 mesh with one another- The constructions of Figs. 5 and 6 differ from those of Figs. 1 and 2 in that a bevel countershaft gear 66 and a bevel driven gear 51 replace the gears 46 and 41 respectively, This requires the removal of the wall 5I and the substitution therefor of a wall 68 having a portion 69 appropriately inclined so as to journal a shank 'm of the bevel gear Eil at an angle with respect to the driving shaft 25 instead of in alignment with it as in the construction of Fig. l. rlhe gear shank 'I0 is journalled in the wall portion 69 by means of conical thrust bearings II and 12. The gear shank 20 is splined as indicated at 'I3 to receive a connecting collar 14, which iS adapted to be attached to a similar collar splined or otherwise drivingly connected to a driven shaft, which may be the propeller shaft for a boat. The countershaft spur gear 42 and the countershaft bevel gear 65 are drivingly connected to one another through a key I5 on Ythe countershaft 44. The gears 42 and 65 are spaced from one another by collars 15 and il, which are also drvingly connected to .the sha-ft 44 by means of the key 15. With the arrangement of Fig. 5, the driven gear 5'! and the driven shaft 'i3 connected thereto by the attaching collar I4 rotate in `the same direction as the driving shaft 25 but at a lower speed than the driving shaft. In the arrangement of Fig. 6 the countershaft spur gear 42 is displaced to the right of its position of Fig. 5 and is between the collars 15 and Ti and is out of mesh with the driving spur gear 4e. The idler gear 59 is installed so as to be in mesh with the spur gears 49 and 42. Now the driven bevel gear 61 and the driven shaft IU that it drives have a direction of rotation opposite to that of the driving shaft 25, and thespeed of the gear 51 and the driven shaft 1!) is lower than that of the driving shaft.

Fig. '7 shows a boat 18, having a rudder 19 and a propeller 8D beneath the rear end of the boat. The propeller 80 is driven by a propeller shaft 8| which projects rearwardly and downwardly through the bottom of the boat 18. The propeller shaft 8| is driven by an engine 82 through the planetary device I6 and through the reduction gearing of Fig. 5 or 6. The construction of Fig. 5 or 6 is employed so that the propeller shaft ill may project downwardly and rearwardly through the bottom ofthe boat and yet the engine 82 and its crankshaft may be horizontally disposed so that the boat may have a relatively low floor 83. It is also possible to connect the boat engine with the propeller shaft 8| by the construction of Fig. 1 or 2, but then the engine and its crankshaft will be inclined in the same manner as the propeller shaft 8l. Consequently the front end of the engine will be higher and will cause the boat oor to be higher.

The construction of Figs. 1, 2-, 5, and 6 constitute advantageous methods of providing for reversing of a driven shaft with respect to the driving shaft in a semi-permanent Way. A countershaft gear is adapted to be displaced axially of a countershaft so as to move out of mesh with a driving gear and an idler gear is adapted to be installed so as to mesh with the driving gear and the countershaft gear. These constructions may be used to great advantage in propelling boats. For various reasons it may be desirable to install in one boat a propeller turning in a certain direction for forward motion of the boat and in another boat the propeller turningin the opposite direction for forward motion of the boat. At the same time it is desirable that the engines and transmissions in the two boats be identical because of production requirements. The reversing scheme of the present invention makes it possible to drive the propeller in a given boat in a certain direction and the propeller in another boat in the opposite direction and yet to use in both boats engines having the same direction of rotation. The reversing scheme also makes it possible to drive in opposite directions two propellers side by side in the same boat from engines rotating in the same direction.

I claim:

l. In a drive train for a marine power transmitting device including reversing gearing and a propeller shaft, a driving shaft drivingly connectible to the reversing gearing, and a driven shaft drivingly connectible to the propeller shaft; a

combination speed ratio control and rotational direction control unit for said driven shaft adapted to be interposed between said shafts, saidA unit comprising a housing having one wall through which the driving shaft projects and a removable, sectionalized opposite wall through which the driven shaft projects, a driving gear drivingly connected to the driving shaft and positioned within said housing, a driven gear drivingly connected to the driven shaft and positioned Within said housing, a countershaft extending between and journaled inthe opposite walls ofsaid housing, a first countershaft gear drivingly and axially rearrangeably mounted on said countershaft and meshing with said driven gear, a spacing collar axially rearrangeably mounted on said countershaft, and a second countershaft gear axially rearrangeably and drivingly mounted on said countershaft, arrangement of said collar between said'countershaft gears positioning said second countershaft gear in meshing engagement with said driving gear to provide for rotation of said driven shaft by said driven shaft, and conduit means connecting said driving and driven gears adapted to transfer lubricant therebetween, said conduit means further providing a means for anchoring at least one of vsaid driving and driven gears in assembled position.

2. A drive transmitting Vdevice adapted to be associated with a drive train that includes a reversible driving shaft and a driven shaft, said device providing a combination speed ratio control and rotational direction control unit for said driven shaft with respect to said driving shaft and beingV adapted to be interposed between said shafts, said device comprising a housing having one wall through which the driving shaft projects and is rotatably supported thereby, and a removable, sectionalized, opposite wall through which the driven shaft projects and is rotatably supported thereby, a driving gear drivingly connected to the driving shaft and positioned within said housing, a driven gear drivingly connected to the driven shaft and positioned within said housing, a countershaft extending between and journaled in the opposite walls of said housing, said countershaft having one end thereof journaled in a section of the opposite wall diierent from that supporting the driven shaft, a rst countershaft gear drivingly mounted on said countershaft and arranged in meshing engagement with said driven gear, and a second countershaft gear drivingly mounted on said countershaft and arranged to be driven by said driving gear, and conduit means connecting said driving and driven gears adapted to transfer lubricant therebetween, said conduit means further providing a means for anchoring at least one of said driving and driven gears in assembled position.

'3. In a drive train for a marine` power transmitting device including reversing gearing and a propeller shaft, a driving shaft drivingly connectible to the reversing gearing, and a driven shaft drivingly connectible to the propeller shaft; a combination speed ratio control and rotational direction control unit for said driven shaft adapted to be interposed between said shafts, said unit comprising a housing having one wall through which the driving shaft projects and is rotatably supported and a removable, sectionalized, opposite wall through which the driven shaft projects and is rotatably supported, a driving gear drivingly connected to the driving shaft and positioned within said housing, a driven gear drivingly connected to the driven shaft and positioned within said housing, a countershaft extending between and journaled in the opposite walls of said housing, a rst countershaft gear demountably and drivingly mounted on said countershaft and meshing with said driven gear, an idler gear rotatably and detachably mounted within said housing adapted to be arranged in mesh with said driving gear, and a second countershaft gear drivingly and axially rearrangeably mounted on said countershaft and adapted to be arranged in one position on said countershaft so as to mesh with said idler gear to provide for rotation of said driven shaft by said driving shaft, said driving and driven shafts extending at an angle to one another and the driven gear and rst countershaft gear being bevel gears.

DAVID A. WALLACE.

(References on following page) REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the Number Name Date Lefel Aug. 20, 1845 Alquist May 2, 1916 Kollock July 30, 1918 Goodwin Feb. 6, 1923 Vineent Aug. 11, 1925 Dickson Dec. 20, 1927 Bergman 'Dec. 4, 1928 Ramsey Sept. 17, 1929 Prigg Aug. 5, 1930 Harvey July 14, 1931 Delevoye Feb. 23, 1932 Landrum Apr. 14, 1933 vNumber 10 Number Name Date Fromm Apr. 10, 1934 Fromm Sept. 13, 1938 Beekjord July 4, 1939 Hindmarch July 15, 1947 Drought Feb. 24, 1948 Berndtson Mar. 9, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Dec. 21, 19,05 Italy Oct. 18, Y1933 Germany Jan. 15, 1923 France Mar. 29, Y12907 Great Britain Jan. 12, 1933 Germany Oct. 23, 1923 25, 193g 

